APPROVAL has been granted for an increase in the monthly stipend for councillors of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, giving each one a 30 percent hike, Mayor Hamilton Green has said.He made the disclosure during the announcement segment of the Council’s fortnightly statutory meeting at City Hall, yesterday.

This has long been a contentious issue and former Town Clerk Carol Sooba had denied the request when it was made some time ago, reducing the allowances of councillors by as much as half when some of them failed to attend statutory meetings.

According to Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, councillors in the past received a stipend of $30,000, then $45,000 and a request for it to be raised to $60,000 was denied, although it was catered for in the 2012 budget.

Chase-Green said Sooba refused to increase the money and began slashing their already meagre sum with the help of the City Treasurer. She recalled that she had attended a meeting with former Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Norman Whittaker and yet her money was cut in half.

The Deputy Mayor had quoted the Municipal and District Councils’ Act, which states, in part: “The City Council may, in each year, with the approval of the minister, appropriate out of the funds of the Council, a sum to utilise for the remuneration of councillors other than travelling and subsistence expenses incurred in the course of duty and may, with such approval, determine what sum shall be payable to each councillor.”